


Just a flesh wound

by Trash_PandaTO



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 12:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13481580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trash_PandaTO/pseuds/Trash_PandaTO
Summary: Nicole gets hurt on the job and doesn't tell Waverly. Waverly finds out anyway.





	Just a flesh wound

She was half sitting, half lying down watching the doctor stitch up her left forearm. She didn’t feel anything, likely thanks to a good local anesthetic, but also because she felt a bit zoned out watching the process.

 

It was one of those really stupid injuries, where explaining the real reason she got hurt would likely result in her groaning in embarrassment while sharing story. She hadn’t even been out in the field! Instead, the cut on her arm was the Purgatory version of a paper cut that she got while reaching for the top shelf in the supply room at the office. As she was reaching up, one of the very heavy steel shelves slid off the little nob holding it level, and in an attempt to grab it in time so as to not see the entire contents of the top shelf tumble to the floor, Nicole’s arm had caught the sharp edge of the shelf. And here she was now, getting stitches because the whole incident caused enough noise to bring both Sheriff Nedley and Lonnie running to the supply room where Nicole was holding up the shelf with one arm and bleeding profusely from the other.

 

“Haught! Hospital. Now!” Nedley had said, not leaving any room for discussion, even though Nicole felt that she could have taken care of her arm just fine with the little first aid kit from the station. 

 

“Okay, you’re done. I’m just going to cover this up a bit to protect it. Don’t get the stitches wet, and come back next week to have them removed.”

 

Nicole nodded. Once it was all done, and she was told to go home, she carefully put on her shirt and jacket, made her way to the cruiser and drove herself home. It was dark by the time she made it to her driveway, and all she wanted to do was to curl up with CJ and get some sleep. Who knew that office accidents could be so draining? She quickly called the station to let them know that she was fine and would be back to work for her next regularly scheduled shift tomorrow morning. As soon as she stepped into the house, she was greeted by a series of quick, chirping meows, and for the first time in countless hours, Nicole felt herself relax a little.

 

“Hey there, old girl! Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s late. M sorry.” She reached down to scratch her cat gently, and after a few seconds of that, CJ starting trotting purposefully towards the kitchen. “Okay, okay, I’m coming!” Nicole chuckled and followed the orange Maine Coon through the house to feed her. After watching her cat eat for a couple of minutes, she went to her bedroom to change out of her uniform. She carefully washed off some of the grime from the day, taking care to not touch the area on her arm that was covered up, with the skin around it slightly yellow from the wound wash they had used at the hospital.

 

She slipped into some pajamas and sat down on her bed, quickly typing out a text to her girlfriend.

 

N: Hey! Had a long day, but am home and ready for bed now. I am beat! Good night, baby!

 

It didn’t take long to get a reply.

 

W: Oh good. I figured it was one of those days for you since you didn’t text back this afternoon. Get some good rest! I will see you tomorrow. Night, night, baby!

 

Nicole smiled and crawled under the covers. Approximately 10 seconds later, she felt the thump from Calamity Jane jumping on the bed and felt her curling up against her leg. Both cat and human were asleep as soon as their heads hit the bed.

 

The next morning, Nicole could definitely feel that arm. It was uncomfortable and felt itchy under the gauze, but she was determined not to let it hinder her from doing her job. As she walked into the station, she strode right to her desk and started working on the report she didn’t finish the day before. She didn’t know exactly how much time had passed when she heard footsteps approaching. She looked up and smiled when she saw a familiar hand holding a cup of coffee towards her.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Hey yourself.” She got up from her desk and gave Waverly a quick kiss, while gently grabbing the coffee from her. “This for me?”

 

“It is, indeed! I figured you might need it. You sounded tired last night.”

 

“Yeah, I…” Just as she was about to thank her girlfriend for being so thoughtful, the Sheriff walked in.

 

“Haught! How is that arm? You know there’ll be no more bleeding in this station from you, so I hope they patched you up properly!”

 

“Uh, yes. Yes, sir. All good.” At that, Nedley gave a curt nod and walked into his office.

 

“Nicole, what? What happened to your arm? You were bleeding? When was that?” Nicole’s attention was drawn away from watching Nedley retreat to his office by the increasing panic she could hear in her girlfriend’s voice. She looked at her and saw that Waverly’s eyebrows had shot up, her eyes wide and searching Nicole’s face for information.

 

“Um. Yeah. It wasn’t anything big, baby. Just a stupid office accident. I’m all good, really.” She shifted a little bit and held her injured arm slightly behind her body, while gently touching her girlfriend’s shoulder with her other hand.

 

Waverly didn’t seem convinced. “But Nedley said there was bleeding. What happened?”

 

Nicole groaned, letting her head drop slightly. It was a stupid cut, and a stupid reason to get a cut. She didn’t want Waverly to make a big deal out of it, and if there was going to be a conversation about blood and stitches and hospitals, she wished that she at least had a better story to tell.

 

“It’s nothing, baby. I just cut my arm a little while I was in the supply room. The shelf…uh…sort of toppled down. It’s…stupid. Nothing. I got some stitches, it’s all good.” She quickly looked up at Waverly and then moved to walk her over to the BBD offices, trying to show that this wasn’t anything to worry about and that they could both go about their days as usual. But Waverly stopped her with a tug on her arm.

 

“Stitches? You bled enough that it required stitches? Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?” After a beat “Why didn’t you tell me?” Nicole could see a mixture of bewilderment and sadness in her eyes.

 

At that, Nicole’s shoulders slumped forward. “I don’t…I’m sorry. It was a stupid accident, and no big deal. And by the time I came home, I was so tired. I’m sorry, Waverly. I didn’t…”

 

“You didn’t what?” Waverly kept her gaze steady on Nicole, not letting her shrink away.

 

“I didn’t think this was important.”

 

Nicole watched Waverly open and close her mouth a few times, but she didn’t respond. Instead, she shook her head, turned on her heels and walked away. Before Nicole could say anything else, Waverly had disappeared through the doors into the BBD office, slamming the door shut as she went. Nicole flinched. 

 

She stood there for a few more moments, just staring at the door that her girlfriend had stormed through. She could hear talking and shuffling on the other side and debated going in to talk to Waverly. Her arm itched, and her brain had trouble processing what had just happened. She knew she probably should have told Waverly about the accident last night, but at the same time, she didn’t want to bother her girlfriend with something so minor and dumb. It also didn’t help that she felt more than a little embarrassed about the whole event herself.

 

Nicole let out a big sigh and plopped herself back in her chair. She wanted to text Waverly, but what was there to say, really? This whole thing had already ballooned into something much bigger than it really was, and maybe it was best to just let it fade away for the time being, so she did just that.

 

The rest of her day was a blur of paperwork, and a couple of hours working the speed trap out on the highway. Just as she was packing up there, she sent off a quick text.

 

N: Waverly, I am sorry.

 

No reply. She drove back to the station to drop off a few things and then home. She felt tired, even more tired than the night before. Her thoughts were bouncing back and forth between the image of Waverly slamming the door and the expression on her face when she realized that Nicole had not told her about getting hurt. She was so lost in thought that she barely acknowledged her cat as she walked in the door. As if on autopilot, she went through the motions of toeing off her boots, removing her coat and her utility belt and storing away her gun without really paying attention to what she was doing. She quickly fed CJ and sat down on her couch, head back and staring at the ceiling.

 

Nicole must have dozed off a little, because the next thing she consciously noticed was CJ scrambling off her lap when they heard knocking at the door. When did the cat jump on her lap? How long had she sat there like this? She got up quickly and shuffled towards the door. When she opened it, Waverly was standing there, bundled up in her puffy coat and scarf, holding a bag of what looked and smelled like take-out food.

 

“Hey” Nicole whispered.

 

“I…brought food.” Waverly smiled a bit sheepishly, holding up the bag. Nicole stepped aside, motioning for her to come inside and followed her girlfriend to the kitchen.

 

“Are you hungry?” the brunette asked quietly, focussing intently on setting down the food and pulling the containers out of the bag.

 

Nicole had stopped near the door, watching. “I don’t really know” she admitted. It was only then that Waverly turned toward her and looked at her. She shrugged her coat off her shoulders and hung it over the back of a chair, while at the same time taking a few deliberate steps toward Nicole. She extended her hand and gently grabbed Nicole’s wrist, pulling her into the living room to the couch.

 

“It’s okay, we can warm it up later” she said, sitting down and pulling Nicole down with her. “Okay, so, I shouldn’t have stormed out like that earlier. I’m sorry about that.”

 

“No, no. I am sorry. I know I should have told you, and I totally get why you stormed off, I think. I…I am really sorry, Waverly.” She looked down at her hand, which Waverly still held by her wrist. There was a moment where neither of them said anything, and Nicole was ready to launch into a longer apology, or even beg for forgiveness, when she felt gentle fingers lifting her chin. She looked up and saw Waverly looking back and what felt like right into her soul.

 

“Hey” she smiled a bit, “I know. It’s okay.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah. Baby, it’s okay. It’s just that….you got hurt! You said it wasn’t important, but you got hurt enough that you went to the hospital to get stitches. That IS important. YOU are important.” Waverly moved a little closer to Nicole and she could feel the warmth radiating from her body. She gently touched one hand against Nicole’s cheek and continued “I want to know about this stuff, even if it is stupid. Hell, I want to know about every silly thing that happens in your day, boring or not. I’m your girlfriend, and I want to know what is going on in your world.” She paused, looking at Nicole, who felt like she was drowning in that gaze.

 

“Okay” was all she managed to reply, and it felt insufficient and awkward.

 

“I especially want to know when you get hurt, Nicole. I don’t care whether you get attacked by a shelf or a person or a revenant, I need to know that you’ll tell me about things like stitches and hospital visits.”

 

“Okay” Nicole repeated, trying to sound firm and convincing. She made a mental note to talk to Nedley about listing Waverly as her emergency contact at work and was about to mention that when Waverly interrupted.

 

“Can you show me?” she asked, her voice sounding small and almost pleading in that moment.

 

“Show you?” Nicole frowned a bit, not quite following where this was going. But then she saw Waverly look down at her arm and got the hint. “Oh! You want to see the stitches?” Waverly nodded. “Yeah, okay.” Nicole carefully pushed her sleeve up her arm to reveal the bit of gauze that was taped over her stitches. She could see that some fluids had seeped through the fabric. “I should actually change this” she noted, moving to get up to retrieve her first aid kit, but she was stopped by hand on her arm.

 

“Let me?”

 

Nicole could only nod. Waverly got up and disappeared into the bathroom to get the supplies she would need. She returned quickly and immediately laid out everything on the coffee table by the couch. She took Nicole’s arm and carefully peeled off the tape and gauze. When she saw the stitches and swollen and angry looking skin around it, her eyes shot up briefly, and Nicole could see the worry swirling in them.

 

“It looks worse than it is, Wave. Really. Please believe me, it’s not actually that bad.” She tried to reassure, hoping that the woman in front of her could see that there was nothing to worry about. "It's just a flesh wound" she said, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. Waverly didn't laugh, and could only nod. She quickly cleaned the area, applied some antibacterial ointment and secured fresh gauze with some tape, but she didn’t pull back her hands right away. Instead, she leaned forward and placed a quick, light kiss right in the centre of the gauze.

 

“There. All done.”

 

“Thank you.” Nicole felt tears prick at the back of her eyes and struggled to swallow the lump in her throat. Waverly noticed the shift in her body language immediately.

 

“Baby, what’s going on? Did I hurt you?”

 

“No,” she croaked, “no. Not at all. It’s just...” she took a breath and shook her head slightly. “I’m not, I’m not used to this.” She gave Waverly a crooked smile, who looked at her for a few seconds, eyes soft and full of understanding. After a pause, the brunette leaned forward and pressed a series of gentle kisses on Nicole’s cheeks, nose and lips.

 

“I know, baby.”


End file.
